Box Score ROCK HILL, S.C. – Winthrop connected on 17 three-pointers, including ten of its first 11 in the second half, to down Charleston Southern, 97-72, at the Winthrop Coliseum on Wednesday.
Winthrop's Keon Johnson scored a career-high 36 points and put on a magnificent shooting display. Johnson buried his first six threes of the second half and finished 10-of-13 from downtown overall to pace the Eagles' blistering shooting. Winthrop (15-6, 7-3 Big South) connected of 12-of-16 tries from beyond the arc in the second half to pull away after CSU (8-13, 4-6 Big South) closed within six points early in the stanza.
Aaron Wheeler paced the Bucs with a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds for his second double-double in as many weeks, and third of the campaign. CSU struggled with its perimeter shooting, though, connecting on just 6-of-23 attempts from beyond the arc.
The Bucs got out to a quick 4-0 lead before the Eagles responded with 15 straight points and built an advantage as large as 17 on two occasions. CSU closed to within 40-31 at halftime and was down only six several minutes into the second half following a trey by Patrick Wallace. Winthrop reeled off the game's next 13 points to roll to its 15th straight home win over CSU.
Johnson sailed through three straight threes in a span of 1:14 to up the Eagles' advantage to 85-49 with 7:32 left. It was his tenth 20-point game of the year and second against the Bucs, as Johnson tallied 27 in a one-point win at the Buc Dome on December 2.
Johnson drilled four or his first five threes in the first half to help Winthrop forge a 29-12 lead at the 7:20 mark. CSU countered with a 9-0 spurt, buoyed by back-to-back baskets by Wheeler. Winthrop nudged its edge back to 12 points before Danny Upchurch swished through a 30-footer in front of the halftime buzzer.
CSU returns home to play Gardner-Webb on Saturday. Tipoff at the Buc Dome is set for 5:30 p.m.
